The firefighters are finding it hard to do their jobs because they're being called to help do chores for senior homes. That is what the whole article is about. It sounds to me like they wouldn't mind helping the elderly if it didn't prevent them from fulfilling their primary job of, you know, fighting fires.
Modern fire prevention techniques and building codes mean that firefighters don't spend much time actually fighting fires. Most of their calls are for vehicles crashes and medical emergencies. (And I don't intend this as a criticism of firefighters, someone has to respond to those incidents.)
